Back-to-school resources
Lessons for the new school year including plans for icebreakers, business basics, and absolute beginners.
On this page, you’ll find a wealth of theoretical and practical resources designed to help ease you into the new school year and make the most of the back-to-school weeks. Whether you need to break the ice with your new groups, find ideas for the first classes or simply get some inspiration, we’ve got all you need to give you a stress-free start!
Skills-based resources
Live from London: How well do you know each other?
This video lesson includes interviews with Londoners talking to their friends about how well they know each other.
Live from London: First impressions
Set in Brixton, London, this video lesson includes authentic interviews with Londoners, talking about first impressions.
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Celebrations: Firsts
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Speaking: Holiday activities
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Absolute Beginners
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Business Basics
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Topics: Family
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Speaking: Would I lie to you?
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The Terror of Blue John Gap: Part 1
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The Secret Garden: Chapter 1
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Using art in the classroom
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Business first lessons: A lesson plan
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First meetings and introductions
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Speaking: First class mingle
Teenagers
Impressions: Friends
Students discuss what qualities are important in a friend and do a questionnaire about friendship.
Impressions: First impressions
In this lesson, students will describe their first impressions of people and what they notice about appearance and personality.
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Let's get personal
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Spot on news lessons for teens: One school, 71 languages
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Spot on news lessons for teens: School of hope
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Video projects
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Celebrations: Firsts
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What's your name?
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Beyond: Arts and Media: Literary lives
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A Time to Travel
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Owl Hall: Episode 1: Arrival
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Spot on news lessons for teens: No girls, no boys!
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Teenagers: Warmers
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One World Magazine project
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Beyond: Knowledge: Learning
Methodology, tips and stories
Digital criteria
In this series, Michelle McDonnell-de Graaf looks at how to choose and implement the right digital tools for your classroom.
Challenges in ELT
Welcome to Challenges in ELT. In this series of articles, teachers from around the world tackle the current and pressing issues in English language teaching.
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First steps into ... Flipped Learning
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Handling conflict
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Blended Learning
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Survival Guide: Troubleshooting
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Survival Guide: Surviving technology
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Survival Guide: Surviving teaching in companies
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Methodology: Survival Guide: The emergency activity file
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Survival Guide: Culture shock
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Survival Guide: Surviving young learners
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First classes
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Survival Guide: Teacher's survival kit
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Approaching a first class with a new group
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First day: First classes with young learners
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Teaching approaches: First lessons
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General: First lessons: Name games
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General: the first lesson of the year
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First day teaching stories
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Anecdote: First day helper
Children
First day: First lesson games
A selection of games and activities to use in your first lesson with your young learners. These activities are intended to help students familiarize themselves with you, the classroom and each other.
